The 1619 Project is named after the year that the first enslaved Africans landed on the shores of Virginia, the work’s main aim was to “reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.” 

The project was first published as a longform collection in the August 2019.

Hannah-Jones wrote the leading essay in the work, which later received the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, and was eventually adapted into a book and curriculum developed by the Pulitzer Center.